Table of contents for Fall 2023 in C10 Builder's Guide

‘TIS (although by the time THE SEASON! No, not Christmas trees and presents under the tree quite yet this hits mailboxes it will be just around the corner!). Car show season is here and in full swing! It’s our favorite time of the year, showing off new parts and mods sourced over the winter months, hanging with our buddies, cruising to shows near and far, and all around good times with friends and family. We absolutely LOVE car show season and all the things that come with it—minus the breakdowns on the side of random highways—although, that in itself becomes part of the best memories and stories added to the memory bank! We pack our trucks with the goods and roll both near and far to some of our favorite gatherings…

ORANGE Beach Invasion is one of the most chill and laid-back shows on our event calendar, despite being held at “the beach” during Spring Break. You see, Orange Beach, Alabama, is still a bit of a secret little spot. We lucked out for sure this year, too, because we enjoyed beautiful weather despite the forecast threatening rain all weekend long. The Wharf at Orange Beach is just an awesome venue that has it all in one location. You can even stay on the grounds, which has restaurants, bars, and shopping for the family. Even though there is limited space, the show really does a great job at filtering show vehicles to ensure that there is plenty to look at all weekend. And the variety is top notch from both lifted…

SOMETIMES the best things in life aren’t planned. Whether it be a fateful turn of events, being at the right place at the right time, some indescribable cosmic force working in your favor, good karma finally paying off, or just good ‘ol fashioned dumb luck—you just have to be ready to go with the flow whenever a golden opportunity presents itself. While not everyone is fortunate enough to purchase a lottery ticket worth millions, it’s still worthwhile to keep score of other meaningful life occurrences, such as finding a cool pickup project out in a field somewhere. That must be as good as hitting that Powerball number, right? While some folks might not be able to equate landing a big jackpot with scoring something as mundane as a rusty truck,…

ONE THING I LOVE about the truck industry is that enthusiasts and companies are always bringing new products to market. I especially love it when that new product is exactly what I’m looking for. Engineered Vintage is one of those companies that is a small business founded in March 2021 by a fellow truck enthusiast, Ben Kohler, who has an engineering background. Ben started Engineered Vintage by selling fabricated shackles and behind-the-bumper winch mounts for 4x4 trucks. This quickly expanded into aluminum fabricated grilles for C10s. More specifically for 1971-’72, 1973-’74 and 1977-’79 Chevrolet C10s. Each grille is cut on a CNC machine and meticulously TIG welded by hand. Engineered Vintage also offers a 1969-’77 fabricated steel Blazer bucket seat back cover, and it is constantly introducing new products. Soon…

DEFIANCE IS often looked upon with disdain from those who don’t quite fully understand that it’s just how some people work—no offense intended. Rules are merely suggestions for those who just can’t fall in line, and the conventions of the mainstream are to be avoided at all costs. We think the social media crowd calls this “disrupting,” depending on the context, of course. When it comes to building trucks that are out of the norm, Defiant Motorsports seems to fit every variation of this description. Shop owner Graham Adams and his mighty crew can build anything under the sun from mild to wild, but it’s the latter that really gets their excitement going, almost as much as the weekly paycheck! You have to have the thirst, the drive, and the…

HAVING A full-blown custom truck show held in February is a gamble, no matter the location, to say the least. But that has never stopped the dedicated crew that puts on one of the largest custom truck events of the year! Lone Star Throwdown is held annually in Conroe, Texas, the end of February and is one of the first events on our schedule to kickstart the year. Even in Texas, the weather is hit and miss, but this year we were due for some sunshine, and the sun sure did shine! Over the years with the massive growth LST has seen, truck owners invaded in droves from coast-to-coast, so the last few years the LST crew has had to put a pre-reg cap at 2,000 registered vehicles (plus the…

AS INTERESTING as the trucks themselves, the stories connected with the build often reveal a fascinating, behind-the-scenes view of the process. Sometimes the job is quick and easy, other times the results are unexpected. From Sanderson, Florida, Marshall Rowen shared the unique back story of his trophy-winning 1972 Chevrolet C10, an amazing case of a decades-long dream finally coming true. Recently retired, Marshall’s former career revolved around his home maintenance business, but he has been an automotive enthusiast since he built his first dune buggy at age 12! With his enthusiast addiction ignited at an early age, he progressed to modified race cars, automotive restoration, and lately, trucks with each getting better than the last. How this ’72 arrived however, is a story from 40 years in the past. Continuing…

THERE’S A LOT TO LOVE ABOUT this 1982 Chevy C30 Crew Cab custom build. But where do we begin? Let’s start with the basics. Chris Wolf of Folsom, Louisiana, built the black and gray ½-ton Crew Cab over four years, weekends only. But why did he build it? “I wanted to build a truck that Chevrolet should have put into production,” he says. Simple as that—and it was his focus as he put each piece and part into place. BY A PAINT Starting with the exterior, Chris chose an LMC grille, headlights, and bumpers from a 1989 C20. The wheelwell moldings come from an ’88 C20. Additional custom bodywork includes an LMC cowl hood, relocated tailgate handle, a 1987 Blazer trim panel, fiberglass bed cover, and Slosh Tubz fiberglass bolt-in…

GROWING UP IN JEFFERSON City, Missouri, Chris Bedsworth wasn’t your typical millennial. He didn’t spend hours after school playing video games or listening to new-age pop music. Most of his free time was devoted to working at a local car wash and mowing lawns. He was determined to save that hard-earned income to purchase his dream ride: a classic GM truck. When he turned 15, his dad, Larry, helped the young man find the freedom of transportation. Chris found a bright orange 1972 Cheyenne and fell in love. It was a well-maintained longbed rolling on wide rally wheels. Under the hood, a small block had been built with more power than he probably needed but certainly wanted. The vintage hauler was used for transportation to school, hunting and fishing trips,…

IF YOU’RE LIKE ME, YOU LOVE original-paint classic trucks. There’s something about looking over the original paintjob and getting a glimpse at how the truck was treated—or abused—in the past. My OG paint ’67 C10 has a lot of character and most of it came from work on a farm. Now that this original-paint beauty earned its stripes and now resides indoors, it’s time to protect that original paint that has been neglected for 56 years. There are a couple of different ways you can protect and preserve your original paint. 1. Clearcoat the Original: You can go with a more permanent solution by applying a clearcoat over the original paint. I have never been a fan of this method. If the clearcoat were to ever fail, it is highly…

YOU’VE MOST LIKELY seen this ’75 Chevy dually around at a show or online somewhere and have had an instant reaction to what you were looking at. It’s a very polarizing truck, and there’s a lot to take in. Most people love it, but then there are those on the other side of the fence who absolutely do not like it—mainly due to the “sleeper” section of the back cab. Just for the record, we dig it. Obviously. Chris Stoughton of Lubbock, Texas, built this truck from the ground up from parts and pieces from a multitude of donor pickups he had to purchase along the way for various components and panels that were completely rotted out. From the start, Chris wasn’t interested in piecing together something to please the…

THE FIRST annual Solo’s Beach Bonanza presented by Factory Fab USA was a huge hit! Taking place at the beautiful Gilbert’s Resort in Key Largo, Florida, this show was one that we knew we had to get in on the action. Solomon Lunger has always wanted to throw a show of his own, having helped with several shows and being connected through F-100 Builder’s Guide and Ford Era. “It’s always been a goal to put something like this together,” Solomon says, “where all my buddies and fellow like-minded truckers can just get together and enjoy a relaxed weekend on the beach with their friends and trucks!” When it was time to put pen to paper and turn his dream into reality, Solomon immediately knew he wanted this venue. An all-encompassing…